Ferranti
Just a few bits & pieces of contacts with Ferrnati in my early days at Shoreham.
How well I recall my first visit to what was a distinct copy of an all-American hangar ... 'Hangar One' (very big and very posh) and the ex-home of Beagle Aircraft of course. The Pup 100/150s were built there and to this day the three weighing plates for the wheels remain by the main hangar doors. I was introduced to the infamous Bob Smith and have to say he was a man you couldn't easily forget. Yes, the white gloves were mandatory for his line pilots and were an item I referred to in my earlier novel, "Appointment on Lake Michigan" where my pilot decides he wants such an executive job ... gloves and all! Bob's helicopters were always spotless in both paint and interior and being something of a new aviation buyer in those days, I marvelled at the condition of G-AWJW. But Bob was something of a stickler for the rules and on the occasion I walked down to the hangar to collect the heli, he insisted that as an aviation trader, I sign a ten-page document drawn up by Ferranti's lawyers waiving all rights of redress against Ferranti for any reason! Knowing so little about the nice legalities of trade purchases, I had to decline. My boss Roy Spooner got on to his lawyer who said there was to be no such signature. I really don't know what happened next other than Roy Spooner walked down to Hangar One to talk to Bob Smith and an hour later I was back collecting the aircraft.
I always suspected B-Cal bought the company because in those days Ferranti had the 'Class 7 off shore licence.)
I do recall that with the Ferranti SAS fitted, how much smoother and easier it was to touch skids than other 206s I'd flown, especially the earler machines.
From memory, I'd say Bob Smith was and hopefully is a true gentleman and I know little of his subsequent oddities in SA. But S ... can I ask you to pass him my sincere and very best wishes, should you be talking.
On a side tack .... and for some reason which I cannot recall, around the 1970s, I found myself flying into the Ferranti Pad up near Manchester somewhere. I was with an Enstrom so it may have been a sales demonstration. I landed in the largish garden and walked over to what I thought was the gardener doing the mowing on a large tractor. It turned out to be Sebastian Ferranti himself who greeted me. We talked for perhaps an hour and I left.
Savoia, if tit bits like this help you build a bigger picture for your project, let me know and I'll dig out the detail from log books.
Best wishes to all. Dennis Kenyon.